Pixelpark and Lycos Europe reassigned
B2B venture Pixelpark moves
to Bertelsmann's Arvato division - Jürgen Richter to chair Lycos
Europe and Pixelpark supervisory boards
Gütersloh (ots)
The media company Bertelsmann is transferring ist 60.3 percent share in the Pixelpark AG multimedia agency from DirectGroup to the international media service provider Arvato on January 1, 2002. Jürgen Richter, CEO of the BertelsmannSpringer specialist-publishing group, is being tapped to chair the supervisory boards of Pixelpark AG and the Lycos Europe online service for Bertels-mann in addition to his operational tasks.
The DirectGroup has bundled Bertelsmann's direct-to-customer businesses (B2C), with their approximately 60 million customers, since July 2000. Business-to-business (B2B) ventures in the portfolio - such as BmS or the Broadband Group - have been moved from DirectGroup to other Bertelsmann divisions in the past as well. Arvato has close ties to hundreds of substantial key customers in trade and industry around the world, and can thus give Pixelpark a valuable B2B network. Pixelpark is one of Europe's leading full-service providers of integrated Internet services.
Gunter Thielen, Arvato AG CEO, has requested that as part of this realignment, Jürgen Richter be prepared to take on the chairmanship of Pixelpark AG's supervisory board starting in January 2002. This position is currently held by DirectGroup CEO Klaus Eierhoff. Edwin Eichler, member of the Arvato AG Board and head of the MOHN Media Group, is also being asked to take a seat on the Pixelpark AG supervisory board. Bertelsmann has a 10.96 percent direct holding in Lycos Europe, Europe's biggest In-ternet portal, and indirect holdings of 5.5 percent via Gruner + Jahr. As part of Gruner + Jahr's focus on the online presence of its print brands true to the slogan "One Brand -Multi Media", G+J CEO Bernd Kundrun will step down as chairman of the Lycos Europe supervisory board. Bertelsmann will propose that the Lycos Europe Annual General Meeting on November 30, 2001 in Amsterdam elect Jürgen Richter to chair the compa-ny's supervisory board.
Jürgen Richter has shown great entrepreneurial prowess in his management of the BertelsmannSpringer specialist-publishing group, which was created in 1999 from the merge of Bertelsmann's Specialist Information division and the Springer science publis-hing group. He handled the newly merged company's integration process and strategic realignment in an exemplary manner. Today BertelsmannSpringer is the No.1 in Germany, and one of the world's most highly acclaimed providers of specialist and science literature.
For further information please contact: Bertelsmann AG Oliver Herrgesell Media and Financial Relations Phone: +49 - 173 - 523 25 23 oliver.herrgesell@bertelsmann.de
Original content of: Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, transmitted by news aktuell